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NASA Twin Rovers Analyze Mars Surface

Posted on: Tuesday, 3 February 2004, 06:00 CST

NASA's twin rovers reached out to scoop and analyze the martian surface some 6,600 miles apart, both machines using their robotic arms as intended following a software glitch.

"We have two operational rovers on Mars," mission manager Jennifer Trosper told a Monday news conference at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The rovers, Opportunity and Spirit, kicked off what NASA hoped would be the start of sustained science operations with in-depth analyses of the soils and rocks on the ground beneath their wheels.

Opportunity rolled onto the ground Saturday, a week after it landed. Spirit arrived Jan. 3 but broke off its science work several weeks later after software problems temporarily crippled it.

NASA also unveiled the first 360-degree color panoramic image taken by Opportunity of its landing site. The rover touched down in one of the flattest, smoothest regions on Mars but ultimately came to rest inside a crater just 72 feet across.

"It provides us with a real sense of 'you are there,'" said scientist Jeff Johnson, of the U.S. Geological Survey office in Flagstaff, Ariz. Johnson likened the mosaic image to the overlapping snapshots tourists often take of the Grand Canyon to capture its full sweep.

Opportunity also stretched out its robotic arm and photographed in detail each of the four instruments it carries. The arm is the most complex mechanism on each rover.

"The arm is working well," engineer Joe Melko said.

NASA planned for Opportunity to take microscopic images of the rusty soil and then put its Mossbauer spectrometer to the ground. The German-built instrument measures the composition and abundance of iron-bearing minerals.

Spirit resumed its own scientific observations, and NASA planned for it to brush off the surface of a volcanic rock called Adirondack, removing any dust and allowing the rover's microscopic imager to photograph it.

NASA launched the pair of roaming robots to find geological evidence of past water activity on Mars. That could show the planet was hospitable to life perhaps billions of years ago.

It appears Opportunity hasn't had to venture far to find such evidence.

Halfway around Mars from its twin, Opportunity already has discovered an iron-rich mineral called gray hematite. Preliminary measurements suggest the mineral is of a variety that forms in liquid water, providing the first hint that the now dry site once was wetter.

Spirit, in contrast, may have to drive hundreds of yards, to a nearby crater called Bonneville, to uncover similar geologic proof.

"Spirit is the driving mission. We are already theorizing how to drive far and fast," Trosper said.

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On the Net: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov

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